A#270 Solved: Trevor Fiore's design for the Lea Francis Francesca

[Arunas]

For a point: make, model, author.

[Arunas]

Let's move

[75america]

Trevor Fiore design for the Lea Francis Francesa Spyder

[Arunas]

Correct!

[Allan L]

Mercifully never completed!

[ImpishGrin]

Well, looks beter than all the other attempts to revive Lea-Francis (Lynx, Ace of Spades, 30/230 etc.)

BTW, this car became later the infamous TVR Trident - the car that brought TVR to its knees in mid 60s and later became theTrident Clipper/Venturer/Tycoon.

[Carnut]

Not sure the TVR Trident did bring TVR to its knees actually - they never paid either Fiore or Fissore!!
They never had any money for anything, that's why they went bankrupt at the time!  They just had lots of big ideas!

[ImpishGrin]

Ah, yes. But they had just enough money to operate building the Granturas et al. The development of Trident on the ther hand was so expensive that they had to sell.

As a sidenote to this sidenote - the Lilleys, the new owners, bought TVR mainly because of thepotential the saw in the Trident project. However, Bill Last - a TVR dealer from Suffolk - struck a deal with Fissore to buy the project in return for paying the TVR's debts to the coachbuilder and a legal battle ensued on who has the rights to it.

[Carnut]

There's lots of folklore about this.
I was speaking to Martin Lilley about this 3 months ago and the truth is, whilst he would have liked to have produced the Trident, he knew full well it was a non-starter and denies that he ever intended to put it into production.
Not sure if that is fully true, however, as he did go to Fissore intending to take home the plans and was somewhat miffed to find he had been beaten to it by Bill Last (who had 'stolen' the plans, depending on who you speak to!)
Bill Last himself (now sadly deceased) did, I believe, deny he ever paid TVR's debts off (I have a copy of a letter from him saying that but I would have to find it to verify my facts) but again, the truth is always somewhere in between what each party says!

[Carnut]

Trevor Fiore design for the Lea Francis Francesa Spyder

Actually Trevor Fioré says the name is mis-spelled in error..
It should have been the Lea Francis Francesca all along...

[Allemano]

Are you in contact with Trevor Fiore?

[Carnut]

Are you in contact with Trevor Fiore?

Indirectly, yes.
It's through a friend, but I'm the one who organised his interview with Classic & Sportscar last year since they didn't know how to contact him..!

[Allemano]

I know some people who would kill for this....

[Carnut]

I know some people who would kill for this....

It used to be that he shunned publicity and would take no interest in his old projects, but time has mellowed him and he's now willing to give interviews if asked properly!

We actually have a meeting arranged with him, which was originally for August this year but has been put back to August next year now as the No.1 TVR Trident needs its restoration to be completed to make the journey.  All 4 current TVR Trident owners will be there with their cars, along with some previous owners and maybe a former owner of TVR.   And Fiore has agreed to come!  Maybe a  particularly interested journo might be there too.  It is scheduled to take place in St Niklaas, Belgium. 

I'm looking forward to it hugely!